Wildlife refuges eliminate part-time law enforcement officers

The American ideal of the friendly public-land ranger still persists, complete with Smoky Bear hat and horse companion. But by the end of this year, the reality will forever change on national wildlife refuges, leaving those lands with a little less protection. On Monday, the national wildlife refuge system started phasing out its dual-function law enforcement officers, starting with those at the highest grades. By the end of the year, none of the 50 to 60 dual-function positions in the nation will remain. That’s the decision that National Wildlife Refuge system chief Cynthia Martinez spelled out in a Sept. 21 memo acquired by a watchdog group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Dual-function officers are refuge managers, biologists and other employees who’ve also attended law-enforcement training, so they can fill multiple roles, from counting wildlife to checking fishing licenses. For much of the past century, since the creation of the refuge system, they were the main guardians of refuges.As recently as the mid-1990s, the refuge system had 685 dual-function officers. But after 9/11, the Bush administration shifted the general public-safety emphasis of law enforcement in all federal agencies by adding in a healthy dose of counter-terrorism. Officers were required to have more combat-style training and equipment. So in 2003, an Interior Department directive mandated reduced use of dual-function officers...MORE